Before the Party
by Lone Butterfly
Summary: Sara and Grissom are getting ready for Grissom's retirement party. A fluffy bit of futurefiction. [GSR]


Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, or Grissom, or Sara. I can claim nothing.

A/N: Much thanks to Drakien, who was my beta. She not only did the work, but explained the process. She's awesome! Now, on to the light and fluffy futurefic that is this writing...

**XOX XOX XOX XOX XOX**

"AND DON'T MOVE UNTIL THE BABYSITTER GETS HERE!"

Sara slammed the bedroom door and sat down at her dressing table with a huff, her bathrobe wrapped around her tightly.

"You REALLY could be of some help here, you know?" she grumbled.

"Sara, I didn't want to have a party, and I certainly didn't want to have a party that involved babysitters and tuxedos, so I'm not sure what incentive I have to help."

"You have the incentive of not being murdered on the night of your retirement, Dr. Grissom. Not to mention that parties that involve tuxedos also involve very nice dresses."

Grissom snorted and walked out of the closet. "Just because you're sexy, doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy this party." He stood in front of their full length mirror and buttoned his dress shirt, carefully straightening the collar. His eyes glanced over at his wife, as she tried to tame her still damp hair. "You look beautiful with it pulled back like that," he said, leaning down to leave a kiss on her neck.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," she replied, winking at him in the mirror. "Now, lets go over who will be there tonight."

"Mayor Brown of Searchlight, Nevada and her husband will be attending."

"I still can't believe Catherine changed her name when she and Warrick got married," Sara said. "I never would have thought after her marriage to Eddie, and then with Warrick officially adopting Lindsay when she was a teenager…"

"I can't believe she left the glitter and glitz of Las Vegas for Searchlight." Grissom chuckled at the Catherine they both loved, who was much more content since she and Warrick got married over a decade ago. "Moving away and running for political office…"

"She was always better at that then you were, and she wanted it more. Not to mention, for Warrick it was like a huge promotion, moving to a smaller lab. He's done wonders bringing them into the 21st century."

"Speaking of politicians, Brass will be there, pressing the flesh for his campaign for sheriff next summer."

Sara let out a small snicker and thought of the huge signs Brass had showed them for their front yard the last time he came for dinner. "I am all about support, but no tacky signs tonight. Oh, CSI-3 Sanders and his lovely wife Denise will definitely show up. Denise and I actually went shopping together for our dresses."

"That's actually Night-Shift Supervisor Sanders, honey," Grissom corrected absently.

"He got the promotion? Did you tell him?"

"Not yet, I thought I would announce it tonight as a surprise." Grissom locked eyes with Sara, and bent at the waist to kiss her when he was interrupted by a their bedroom door being flung open and a pair of nine year old twins falling over each other into the master suite.

"She hit me!"

"He bit my arm!"

"I didn't bite you! Daddy check my upper incisor impression with the mark on her arm."

"Sit…down…there." Sara gritted her teeth and pointed at the king-size bed with her hairbrush. The sister and brother ceased whining and sat down, sliding to opposite ends of their father's side of the bed. "You," she muttered waving her hairbrush at Grissom, "deal with this now." Sara rose from her stool and stalked to the walk-in closet, closing the door behind her.

Grissom knelt down in between his son and daughter, trying to stifle a grin.

"The evidence, please."

Julie Grissom slowly lifted her arm off the black silk dragonfly comforter that covered her parents bed. Her father carefully scrutinized the bite mark, which was clearly missing two teeth, and then looked at his daughter, also missing two teeth. "Julie, can you explain why, if Nicholas has all his teeth, he somehow managed not to use them when biting you?" He could barely contain his laughter when her blue eyes flashed, just like her mother's brown eyes did when she was caught in a difficult situation. And also just like her mother, Julie opened her mouth in an attempt to talk her way out of the obvious hole she had dug. "No, wait, better not to tempt you into a fib."

Nicholas stuck his tongue out at his sister and was rewarded with a well-aimed whack on the head. Grissom sat on the bed between his children and attempted to separate them with his arms. One hand went around Julie Grissom's shoulders, tall for her age, with her mother's brown hair and attitude, but her father's blue eyes. The other went around Nicholas Grissom, taller than his sister, also with his mother's hair, attitude, and his father's blue eyes. Grissom often wondered how he managed to get two spitfires with not a hint of his calm, collected manner. Sara would remind him that if they wanted their children to be happy, it was better that they not be saddled with his inability to forge relationships. _That _conversation usually ended in a good-natured tussle.

"Now, we seem to be having family issues. Perhaps you could both be calm enough to go downstairs and settle this like rational human beings? Hmmm?"

Sara opened the closet door and hobbled out back to the chair, trying to buckle the side of her high heel. "Calm? Monkeys can't be calm." The twins looked at their mother, and began giggling as she crossed her eyes and wiggled her eyebrows. "How exactly did we manage to get monkeys in the first place? I could have sworn we asked for children from the mail-order catalogue." The doorbell interrupted her question and the twins slid off the bed and ran down the stairs, fighting over who would get to the door first.

"Well, at least that will give me enough time to finish my makeup."

"Who's the surprise guest speaker?"

Sara threw Grissom a dirty look. "Do you honestly think I'm going to just slip up and happen answer you?"

"I'm just giving you a chance to come clean yourself, I already know who it is."

"Impossible."

"Nothing, my dear, is impossible," Grissom whispered in her ear. "Especially when it only takes one phone call to a courthouse in Texas to find out if a certain judge has cleared their docket for the next week. Which would mean that the Honorable Nick Stokes arrived sometime this morning from Austin, and will be staying in the guest bedroom which you cleaned this week, so he can be near his godchildren."

"If you ruin the surprise for everyone else, so help me Gris…"

"Idle threats, my love, idle threats. You know you love my inquisitive mind."

"You do realize that after tonight neither of us will be officially working for the Las Vegas Crime Lab, don't you? What do we do then?"

"Same thing we've talked about doing since you finished school, Mrs-Dr. Grissom, we trade off when we go consulting so someone is always home with Nicholas and Julie. And during summers we all get to vacation on someone else's dime, consulting in the places we want to go. It will be perfect." He slid his arms into his tuxedo jacket.

Sara stood up, turning around to help Grissom tie his bowtie.

"I can do that, you know. I was an adult when we married."

"And as I recall, our wedding was one of the few times ever that you wore a bowtie, and that took me _and_ Catherine to convince you to wear it that time."

"You are perfect, Sara, absolutely perfect. How did I end up with this life?"

"You took a chance. We took a chance." She leaned into him, not even caring a bit that her carefully applied lipstick was getting smeared when she kissed him. They were deep in "conversation" when a second doorbell, and screams of "UNCLE NICK!" rang up the staircase. Sara pulled back and a faint smile crept onto her face. "Duty calls, Dr. Grissom." Sara said, as she carefully wiped the lipstick residue off his face.

"So it does, Dr. Grissom." He replied, taking her left hand in his left and placing his right hand on the small of her back, guiding her out the master bedroom door.

Together they descended the staircase to greet their old friend, and conclude their life with the Las Vegas Crime Lab.


End file.
